Aflac Incorporated $AFL Shares Sold by Brendel Financial Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Brendel Financial Advisors LLC significantly reduced its stake in Aflac Incorporated by 88.8%, now holding only 4,107 shares after selling 32,484 shares.
• Aflac reported earnings of $1.78 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, although its revenue declined by 19.0% year-over-year.
• The company announced a stock repurchase program allowing for the buyback of 100 million shares, suggesting management believes the stock is undervalued.

Brendel Financial Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL - Free Report) by 88.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,107 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 32,484 shares during the period. Brendel Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in Aflac were worth $433,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AFL. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Aflac by 121.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 304 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise purchased a new position in Aflac during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Aflac in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aflac by 90.8% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 330 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company's stock.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AFL opened at $108.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $57.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.49, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.11 and a current ratio of 0.11. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $96.95 and a one year high of $115.50. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $104.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.19.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 15.08% and a net margin of 15.32%.The company's revenue was down 19.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Aflac Incorporated will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, August 12th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Aflac Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.58 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 20th. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Aflac's payout ratio is currently 52.61%.

Insider Transactions at Aflac

In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 1,000 shares of Aflac stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.57, for a total transaction of $102,570.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 25,105 shares in the company, valued at $2,575,019.85. The trade was a 3.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aflac from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen raised Aflac from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Aflac from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on Aflac from $115.00 to $110.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.15.

Aflac Company Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.

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